From 2019, the only ranking to be calculated at international level will be the UCI World Ranking. (The team version will take) into account the results of the 10 best riders of each team in all three divisions across all races on the UCI Road International Calendar.

The two best UCI ProTeams will have the right to participate in the Grand Tours. Similarly, the three best UCI ProTeams will have the right to participate in events in the UCI Classics Series and in other events of the UCI WorldTour.

We can use this thread to keep an eye on the battle through 2019 and some ante-post analysis of the likely runners and riders.

Of course it could be a damp squib with two teams running away with it, but on the other hand it may come down to a mad scramble for points at random races in September and October.

No rules available as of yet and the UCI does say "some important details still need to be finalised".

The two things I'd want to know are:

#1 The blurb above does say "across all races" in reference to the team ranking, but I'd want extra confirmation about whether WT races (and their magnified points) will count or not towards this wildcard competition.

#2 There's no mention of a date in regard to when the auto-wildcards will be handed out. We can assume it would be at the end of the cycling year (October) and that would make sense in giving the successful teams enough time to strengthen for the following year, but you could also make a case for it being three months or so before the race and that would give different teams a chance of picking up the wildcards as fortunes ebb and flow over the course of the year.

Made the biggest individual transfer splash with the signing of Terpstra. How important could he be? Well this year he scored 1803 (obviously this includes points scored in WT races) and the next highest riders who will be part of this competition are the grouping of Hofstetter, Laporte, Dupont and Pasqualon who are all around the 1000pt mark, but a lot of the other "big" riders are more down towards the 500-700 range.

So you can see he could be worth 2 or 3 times more than his rivals.

That's assuming of course that he can repeat his annus mirabilis or at least get somewhere near it. It's unlikely to be honest. He will have some decent support on the cobbles, but will be a marked man now.

The other big signings, as regards this competition, are more on the business side of things. Total (bigger and richer) bought Direct Energie earlier in the year and Wilier are now 100% with the team having given up sponsorship of their eponymous Italian team. No doubt this is where the moolah for Terpstra and co came from.

Upping the Italian links would also mean an increased desire to accept the Giro (+ MSR, TA and Lombardia) wildcards if they were earned.

After a bit of thought I had been planning to reclassify Androni down into the third rank of teams, but today's signing of Pelucchi means I probably won't.

My initial reasoning for them being in the second grouping was their performance this year. They came third in the European Tour ranking (not so far behind Cofidis). They racked up 35 (!) wins over the course of the year, which is more than Wanty and Cofidis combined. Now a lot of those wins were in Venezuela and China, but Sosa and Ballerini in particular picked up some big European wins.

So why think of moving them down a rank? Well Sosa and Ballerini have now left and won't be easily replaced. They haven't got the strength in depth or race as many days as their big rivals. Are they even interested in winning the competition and riding the Tour or the host of other non-Italian WT races?

We don't know if the Coppa Italia wildcard will still be in place come 2020, but they must be a shoe-in for it again if it does and would RCS not invite their best (by a mile) PCT team if they didn't achieve automatic qualification?

Anyway they're off to a good start to the competition with Masnada's win in Hainan.

This is another team who's probably not too interested in the competition. They got wildcards this year to all the big races they wanted. Similarly to Androni, if they did qualify they might just add the TdF to their country specific WT events and just fill the gaps in the calendar that they have with races that suit their characteristics - Strade Bianche for example.

Let's be honest as well, their chances will be very, very slim even if they do try. Their squad is small and it would need a couple of their riders to have Baptiste Planckaert-esque years to stand any chance at all.

No news is bad news for Wilier. Lack of sponsorship/financial woes will be at the root of it. Quintana might be willing to ride for minimum wage, but I can't see Visconti being so obliging (nor should he be).

Missing out on Pelucchi (the lateness of his Androni transfer does lead me to think he might have been waiting on Wilier beforehand) means no direct replacement of Mareczko with someone of a similar level.

Could be a long year and I don't think they'll be featuring in this thread too much.

Along with Terpstra to Direct Energie, the other big transfer in the PCT market was Greipel to Fortuneo (or Arkea as they will be). It remains to be seen however if it's just a big transfer in terms of cachet or whether he'll be able to bring in big results/points. In my opinion he'll bring in the points, but the wins in the bigger races will be hard to come by.

The enigma known as Barguil is the other star in the team. Showed a bit of return to form towards the end of this season, but 2017 seems a long time ago. There were rumours of him wanting out earlier on in the year.

It's slim pickings after that tbh. Welten looks a prospect and they have a couple of other guys who can pick up points in SSFRs. I would say it's unlikely they'll be vying for the auto-wildcards.

One thing I had forgotten about is that both Cofidis and Direct Energie have expressed the desire to go WT in 2020. That's no simple matter of course and there is no clearly stated method of achieving this other than the wishy-washy one of teams already in WT failing tests on sporting/financial/ethical criteria.

It could happen though. I saw a stat somewhere a while back about this year's performance by Dimension Data being almost the worst ever by a WT team (or the earlier equivalent). If Valgren gets injured and that is repeated then even ASO might find it difficult to defend their inclusion (with a straight face).

Something similar might happen to CCC if GVA has an off year. Katusha look weak as well.

So yeah, the contenders could be different to the ones listed above, but we'll stick with them for the time being.

One thing I had forgotten about is that both Cofidis and Direct Energie have expressed the desire to go WT in 2020. That's no simple matter of course and there is no clearly stated method of achieving this other than the wishy-washy one of teams already in WT failing tests on sporting/financial/ethical criteria.

It could happen though. I saw a stat somewhere a while back about this year's performance by Dimension Data being almost the worst ever by a WT team (or the earlier equivalent). If Valgren gets injured and that is repeated then even ASO might find it difficult to defend their inclusion (with a straight face).

Something similar might happen to CCC if GVA has an off year. Katusha look weak as well.

So yeah, the contenders could be different to the ones listed above, but we'll stick with them for the time being.

If Uran or Rusty Woods gets injured then EF are reliant on Lady Garden and Vanmarcke.

In the same boat as WB with a small squad and almost guaranteed invites to the WT events that they want due to their now dual nationality. Their squad make-ups are virtually identical as well, but Roompot probably just have the edge.

Boom is their biggest name in terms of previous results, but I'm not sure he can return to those levels consistently. Weening is still good for a result here and there, but not massive points. The biggest scorer could be Van Schip.

Vital's 2018 squad was ahead of the curve in that it was filled with sprinters, Northern classic-type riders and not many climbers. The fact that it didn't produce the results that were sought hasn't stopped others going down the same route...

Incoming transfers of Vichot, Rolland and The Gaut should give them a lot more scoring potential in the hillier one-day events and some of the bigger stage races, but tbh the main reason they've been hired is not so much to do with this 2020 stuff, it's all about getting ahead of Wanty in the race for a wildcard in 2019.

I think they may get the nod for 2019, but the automatic ones the year after look to be a bit beyond them unless the underperforming riders from 2018 really (and I mean really) step it up.

Of course it could be a damp squib with two teams running away with it, but on the other hand it may come down to a mad scramble for points at random races in September and October.

or even earlier . Just stumbled across this in an interview with August Jensen on procycling.no:

"The original plan [for 2019] was actually to reduce the amount of riders a bit. But then the UCI came up with the new rules about distributing the wildcards for the Grand Tours 2020 to the two best procontinental teams in the rankings. With more riders we will run a larger program and more or less ride whereever it's easier to pick points. There are good riders we have signed, so there will be a battle for the seats and a battle to get the chance to run for a result."

The HC races seem to be giving quite a good payback, so I guess we could see them very active in the Napoleon Cup, and generelly in that part of the world. Ronde van Drenthe, Nokere Koerse, Koksijde Classic, Scheldeprijs, Dunkerque, Tour of Belgium, Luxembourg for example are all HC, and generally more or less sprinter friendly. De Panne is even WT now.

And they probably also will consider to go to Langkawi and Qinghai Lake this year.

#2 There's no mention of a date in regard to when the auto-wildcards will be handed out. We can assume it would be at the end of the cycling year (October) and that would make sense in giving the successful teams enough time to strengthen for the following year, but you could also make a case for it being three months or so before the race and that would give different teams a chance of picking up the wildcards as fortunes ebb and flow over the course of the year.

this has (more or less) been clarified meanwhile:

Quote

Qualifying ranking for men’s UCI teams

The qualifying ranking for men’s UCI teams shall be drawn up at least once a week. The final ranking is calculated on the last day of the season as per article 2.1.001. The ranking for each season will begin at zero. Men’s teams registered with the UCI are classified in the ranking with the exception of UCI WorldTeams. The ranking is calculated by adding the points of the 10 best riders of each team taking into account the points scored by riders between the first day of the current season until the date of publication of the ranking.

As a general rule, the international calendar shall start on the day following the conclusion of the previous year’s final UCI World Championships event or WorldTour event and end upon conclusion of the final UCI WorldTour or World Championships event of the year in question.

So this should be calculated after Guangxi.

But when does it start? Does this mean, Hainan and so on from 2018 will count?!

But when does it start? Does this mean, Hainan and so on from 2018 will count?!

It must be from Hainan onwards.

Unfortunately the UCI are a bit tardy in getting the team rankings up. I just hope they, or PCS or somebody, will have a separate table showing just the 2019 scores rather than the rolling version they have had for the past few years.

Cofidis have the second biggest squad and are always there or thereabouts in the yearly rankings. They already ride virtually all the races they want to and even if they missed out on the top-two here, they could still end up getting two GT wildcards a year due to their continuing sponsorship of the Tour and Vuelta.

I think they will finish in the top-two though. Very strong in the sprinting dept with three big hitters and with enough strength in depth from back up quicks to not be so affected by injuries etc. A couple of climbers came on board this year with Atapuma and Hansen and they're a bit of an improvement on Navarro and Godon.

I think they will finish in the top-two though. Very strong in the sprinting dept with three big hitters and with enough strength in depth from back up quicks to not be so affected by injuries etc.

yeah, I think they are the favorite.

Generally, this new rule could make things very difficult for the French pro conti teams though. The wildcards for the stage races in France are probably those which are the least likely to be handed back to the organizers, no matter who makes the top 2/3 in the end.

So that could leave those 4 other French PCT teams with only 1-2 wild cards to be in contention for in each the Tour, Paris-Nice and Dauphiné 2020.

Generally, this new rule could make things very difficult for the French pro conti teams though. The wildcards for the stage races in France are probably those which are the least likely to be handed back to the organizers, no matter who makes the top 2/3 in the end.

So that could leave those 4 other French PCT teams with only 1-2 wild cards to be in contention for in each the Tour, Paris-Nice and Dauphiné 2020.

PN and the Dauphine could of course increase the number of wildcards they hand out. Catalunya was the only (real) WT stage race this year to use up all seven potential wildcards. Most seemed happy with just four and you had races like Romandie and the TDU just inviting one.